


Sub Rosa

by kryptits



Category: Jane the Virgin (TV)
Genre: F/F, anyway ! i don't exactly know how to describe this... its not angsty, but its not exactly fluffy either ?, guess you'll have to read to find out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 15:38:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12987156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kryptits/pseuds/kryptits
Summary: After Rose escaped from jail, she and Luisa haven't really had the chance to talk. Rose has to keep her distances, until she can safely escape Florida with Luisa. Luisa, on another hand, is forced to stay at the hotel. But she hasn't lost contact with Rose, who sends her flowers ever so often, to remind Luisa that no matter how things may seem, she is not alone.





	Sub Rosa

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing something for this ship ! I hope this fic does the characters justice ^^
> 
> The title is latin from underneath the roses, its a nod to this saying some secret societies apparently have, where "things discussed underneath the roses must stay secret”.
> 
> Special thanks to Liv aka WhenTheCanonShootsOnlyBlanks here on ao3 aka writersblockisabitch on tumblr for encouraging me to write this, and to finish my french assignment so that I could write this ;)

It was a sunny day. There was a gentle breeze floating through the hotel’s open windows, and the children were filling the main hall with yelps and laughter. Luisa was making her way to her office, thinking of the day to come, the meetings she would have to attend, and so on, and so on. As she walked past the reception, one of the staff members handed her a rose, making Luisa’s heart warm. She thanked him, and tucked the flower in the breast pocket of her jacket as the staff member eclipsed himself.

 

Since Rose had escaped from jail, about a month and a half ago, flowers would pop up about twice a week in Luisa’s day to day life. The first ones had appeared the day of Rose’s escape, which at the time Luisa hadn’t known about. She had walked into her office, another day separated from Rose, only to find it filled to the brim with roses. Not long after that, the police came by to announce her that Rose had escaped ; Luisa then deduced who the flowers had come from quite easily, and that the roses were a message to let Luisa know Rose was okay, and that she would wait for her.

 

The police had taken Luisa into custody after that, under suspicion she had somehow played a role in “Sin Rostro”’s miraculous escape. The cops had drowned her in the most absurd questions, none of which Luisa knew the answer to- and even if she had she wouldn’t have spoken.

 

After that Luisa had been released, as no actual evidence could trace her back to Rose’s escape. Since then, Rose had been communicating with Luisa by the means of flowers, letting her know she was safe, and sending her daily reminders that even though they weren’t together, Rose hadn’t forgotten about her.

 

So it was with a warm heart and a smile on her face that Luisa entered her office that day. And it all disappeared when she noticed Rafael standing inside.

 

Luisa moved past her brother to sit at her desk, barely acknowledging his presence.

“Rafael. What a pleasure to see you here. What do you want ?”

“I want to know where Rose is.”

Luisa scoffed, taking out some paperwork. “Seriously, Rafael ? That again ? You know very well we haven’t been in contact since she left.” She paused for a second, before adding with a teary voice : “As far as I know, she’s already moved on-”

“Oh stop it Luisa, I know you’ve been communicating. The police may think you’re innocent, but I can see right through you. I know you know where she is-”

“Rafael, that’s enough. Don’t make me call security again, it was embarrassing enough the last time.”

 

Rafael looked as he was about to protest, or at the very least try and have the last word, but as Luisa finally lifted her eyes from the paperwork she was doing, cocked eyebrow and challenging him to speak, he finally stormed out of the room. The door slammed behind him.

 

Luisa count to three under her breath before letting herself relax. Meetings like this with her brother would happen often. Since she had found out he had faked a cancer to lure her and Rose out of hiding, Luisa had grabbed every opportunity she had to get back to him. For too long she had tried to change for him, but it still wasn’t an easy thing to see only hatred in the eyes of the person once closest to you. And as payback for taking back the hotel shares, Rafael would drop by once a week to question her about Rose, trying to guilt trip her into telling him something, anything.

 

Luisa sighed, taking the flower out from her breast pocket and unconsciously started twirling it between her fingers, slowly getting lost in her thoughts.

 

Rafael was right : she and Rose had been communicating. It was hardly a secret ; everyone had an idea who the flowers came from, but there was nothing the police could do. Luisa smiled, shaking her head. _You were always 5 steps ahead._

 

A polite knock pulled her out of her reveries, and her assistant opened the door to let her know that her first investors had arrived.

 

“Bring them to the conference room. I’ll be joining them in a minute.”

 

The assistant nodded, and closed the door behind her. Luisa observed the flower for another few seconds, eventually tucking it back in her coat. She stood up, straightened her back and dusted her coat.

 

In a far corner of her mind, she could imagine what Rose would tell her. _Go get them, Luisa. Make me proud._

 

\---------------------

 

Since her rather unfortunate run-in with Rafael, it had been a rather calm week for Luisa. No one had died for some time, there had been no kidnappings, no blackmailing, nothing out of the ordinary. The week had been so calm, that Luisa now found herself with some extra time on her hands, which she decided to use to water all the flowers Rose had sent her.

 

So there she was, standing in her flower filled office, the air thick with that sickly sweet smell who would make most people run away, but made Luisa feel less alone.

 

“Where to start...”

 

She started with her favourite ones : the red roses. They were the ones she’d get most often, probably because Rose knew just how much they reminded Luisa of her. Without even realising it, Luisa started to hum that tune Rose would whistle almost constantly as she watered the plants. She recalls with a smile the first time she had asked Rose to stop- it had been a particularly stressful day, and Luisa had been doing her best to relax, to no avail. When she had asked Rose to “Please, just stop whistling already !”, Rose had teased her by answering that Luisa was just jealous of her ability to whistle. To which Luisa had answer back something she couldn’t remember, the argument eventually ending when the two of them started making love, the way most of their arguments ended. Since then, Luisa had been trying to learn how to whistle, much to Rose’s amusement. She had eventually given up, and had started humming the tune instead.

 

Luisa moved on from the roses, now taking care of the alstroemeria. She had gotten this one about a week ago, and had had to look up its meaning in the book. It was a beautiful flower, its four pink petals opening to a yellow bright heart. They were supposed to symbolize wealth, prosperity and fortune, which at first had confused Luisa a little. But after a moment of reflection, she had deduced it meant that Rose had managed to access her money, and that the day of their reunion was coming closer.

 

As she went from flower to flower, more memories resurfaced, of lazy afternoons spent lying together in the hot sand, of the sunsets they would watch together as Rose held her in her arms. She remembered this one time Rose had taken her to visit Paris, how when they visited the museums Rose would whisper in her ear, and tell her that if Luisa wanted any of these paintings all she had to do was ask. Luisa had laughed at that, having no doubt that if she were to accept the offer Rose would stay true to her word.

 

The memories passed by, filling Luisa’s heart nostalgia. How she longed for these days to come back, for Rose to come and rescue her from this stupid hotel.

 

Luisa would have easily spent the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about Rose, but alas- duty called. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. Luisa put the hose to the side, and went to open the door.

 

“I have a delivery for a Miss Alver ?”

“Yep, thats me,” Luisa answered with a frown. That was weird- she got flowers twice a week, and this would make thrice, meaning that someone else had sent her something. Which made Luisa even more confused, because she had no idea who else would send her anything.

 

She signed off the paper, and put down the box on her desk. It was a small package, plastered with these “fragile – do not shake” stickers. Luisa considered it for a moment. It was highly unlikely that this came from Rose. Since she had been out of jail, she had communicated exclusively through flowers- so why stop now ?

 

Luisa sat down. There were several reasons she could think of which would explain the package. The first one being : this could be a trap. The second one ? Rose had somehow found a way to slip her a phone or something, but Luisa couldn’t possibly imagine why she would risk revealing herself when they were so close to being reunited. Of course, this could just be one of Rafael’s attempts to spy on her, sending her a random object he tried to pass off as coming from Rose, while it had a secret mic or something equally ridiculous attached to it.

 

Altogether the chances of it actually coming from Rose were close to zero. So, Luisa decided to bring the package to the police. She could pretend like it came from Rose, that way maybe they would lay off of her for a while. Luisa smiled. Satisfied with her plan, she gently grabbed the package and slipped it in her purse, before heading out to the police station.

 

As soon as she arrived, Luisa was greeted with distrustful looks, every police officer side-eyeing her suspiciously as she made her way to the detective in charge of the Sin Rostro investigation’s office. This treatment filled Luisa with an odd feeling of confidence, which she decided to reinforce by walking as if she owned this precinct. Turns out, spending time with Rose had changed her more then she’d realised.

 

She swung open the door to the detective’s office, another man whose name Luisa couldn’t be bothered to remember, and put down the package on his desk. He looked up to her, confused.

 

“This was delivered to me this morning. I have suspicions it may have been from Rose.”

 

Suddenly she had the detective’s undivided attention. Luisa smiled down to him, and started to make her exit.

 

“Miss Alver, you’ll have to answer a few questions-” the detective called back behind her.

“I’ve already told you everything I know. Goodbye !”

 

Luisa flashed him a smile over her shoulder, waving her hand. She exited the precinct, and made her way back to her car.

 

Rose would have been proud of her today.

 

\--------------------

 

Luisa woke up early the next day.

 

Not by choice, of course, but rather because of the raging knocking at her door. Eyes still heavy, she slipped into some more presentable clothes, and made her way to the bedroom’s entrance, only to find herself face to face with the detective. And five other policemen, who pushed her aside while they made their way into the room.

 

“Did you know ?” the detective bellowed, as the other cops started to go through Luisa’s stuff.

“Know what-”

“The bomb ! Did. You know. About. The bomb ?”

“What do you mean what bomb-”

 

Her mind finally clicked as Luisa realised what the detective was talking about. So she was right. The package really wasn’t from Rose. She sighed as all of the possible consequences of what had just happened started to fill up her mind.

 

This was going to be a long, long day.

 

\---------------------

 

After all of that police drama, Luisa could really have used a drink. Turns out, the bomb had exploded when the police had opened the package. Luckily, no one had died, but two cops had been seriously injured. The police thought the bomb was some sort of scheme from Rose and Luisa, but Luisa honestly couldn’t care less. She knew this wasn’t from Rose, first of all because this plan put Luisa in way too much danger to come from her, and second of all because Rose had promised her she was done with crime.

 

This whole story had affected Luisa more than she’d let on. She had trouble sleeping at night, constantly afraid someone would try to stab her while she was sleeping, and she would jump whenever someone knocked on her office door.

 

This is how, three days later, she found herself sitting on her sofa staring at a bottle of tequila, patiently waiting for Rose’s flowers to arrive. If her maths were correct, they were supposed to arrive in the following hour, and god Luisa could really use this much needed comfort.

 

So when the night came and the flowers still hadn’t arrived, Luisa started to panic. _Its fine. Just a day late, stuff happens._

 

She spent the next day waiting for them to arrive, only half heartedly listening to what was said in board meetings, always keeping an eye on the door to her office while she filled in some paper work.

 

When at the end of the day the flowers still hadn’t arrived, Luisa realised how lonely her situation was. She had no one to talk to- her brother hated her, she had no friends, and while she supposed she could go to therapy or something along the lines Luisa doubted any sane person would take her side in this story.

 

After all, she was dating an internationally wanted ex-drug lord and ex-illegal chirurgical operation owner, who also happened to have killed her father, been her step-mother for some time, turned out to be her brother’s step-sister and had kidnapped the nephew Luisa had accidentally created about five years ago.

 

The walls of her office suddenly felt too close, too tight, the flowers pulling Luisa back in her memories. It was too much, so she escaped to the beach.

 

There, she was alone. It was night time, but the sand was still warm from the hours it had spent glazing under the sun. Luisa wandered on the empty beach, feet dipping in the freshwater of the ocean. The rhythmic sound of the waves brought a certain sense of peace and quiet back to Luisa’s mind.

 

As she walked further down the beach, Luisa did her best to avoid thinking of what had happened to Rose. Instead, she threw herself down memory lane, remembering all the moments she had shared with Rose. Eventually, she sat down on the sand, eyes getting lost in the horizon. She dug her feet in the sand, and breathed in the salty air.

 

Tears gathered in her eyes. Alone at last, she broke down. The tears rolled down her cheeks, and for the first time in a long time Luisa let herself feel. All the stress of the past weeks started pouring out ; the fights with Rafael, the constant questioning, having to pretend like everything was okay while god knows what Rose was going through…

 

So Luisa cried, and let it all out. It felt good, not having to keep all of it inside anymore.

 

The tears didn’t last long, but Luisa didn’t mind. She had manage to vent a bit, which was better than nothing. She took a look at the time, and upon realising she had now been skirming the beaches for two hours, just lost in her thoughts, she decided to head back to the hotel.

 

On her way back, Luisa didn’t think much. This time, she lost herself in her senses, enjoying the breeze on her skin and the feelings of the sand under her feet. She made it back to the hotel faster than on her way out, and she decided to head straight back to her room. It was quite late, and most of the rooms and corridors were empty. As such, Luisa managed to make her way to her room without running into anyone who would ask questions.

 

She reached for her keys, and pushed the door open. She tossed her shoes to the side, and headed to the mini bar to grab a can of coke. Drink in hand, Luisa headed to the bedroom, and started to undress absent mindedly. Suddenly, she heard someone cough politely behind her.

 

Her heart jumped, and Luisa spun around, ready to… well god knows what she would do, perhaps launch herself at the aggressor ? Scream very loudly ? But instead of a terrifying masked aggressor, or anyone of the sorts actually, she found herself staring into Rose’s eyes.

 

If her heart had been racing just a few seconds ago, Luisa was now pretty sure it had stopped dead in her chest.

 

Rose smiled. “Hey Lu. I missed you.”

 

Luisa smiled, and set her can of coke aside. She took Rose in a deep embrace, hugging her tight. Rose was a bit surprised at first, she had been expecting something more akin to passionate sex, but her body relaxed as she hugged Luisa back.

 

“Its alright. I got you,” she whispered in her ear, as Luisa squeezed tighter.

“Rose- I was so worried, there was a bomb and I didn’t know if you were okay-”

“I know, I know.” Her voice was soft, soothing. How Luisa had missed her voice.

 

Luisa looked up to Rose, who was smiling tenderly, stroking her hair. “Does that mean we can finally go ?”

“Yes, Lu. We can go.”

 

Upon hearing these words Luisa smiled, and she pulled Rose into the most magical kiss the world had ever known.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked the fic ! They always make my day ❤


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